EDITORIAL - Online results should not fool us again

Here we go again. Barely two weeks to the Miss Universe Pageant in Brazil, at least two online voting initiatives have placed Miss Philippines candidate Shamcey Supsup way on top of the heap, the same way it did to a previous Filipino contestant.

First off, it is not difficult for any Filipino to lord over any online voting process. One only has to remember that in addition to being the so-called texting capital of the world, more Filipinos also spend more hours on the Internet than most other peoples.

But the fiasco that befell the previous contestant should teach us to acknowledge the fact that it is not the online voting that determines the winner but her physical beauty and grace, and how her mental alertness responds to that one question that makes or breaks it all.

Actually, results of the online voting concerning our previous contestant surprised many people. To them the results did not match the person. It was clear national identification had more to do with the voting than any other consideration, aesthetic or otherwise.

The eventual outcome of that contest proved the misgivings right. That contestant became immortalized more for her performance in the question-and-answer than for every other thing she brought into the contest.

The current Philippine candidate, however, could be the exact opposite. A great looker, she is also a brainer, graduating magna cum laude in her course from one of the top universities in the land, and then topping the board exam for that course.

This is where our hopes and our prayers should be anchored, and not on the results of online surveys, which can be misleading given our distinct advantage in these surveys. Shamcey Supsup can make it on her own without the help of cyber manipulation.

Besides, as the previous contest results have shown, getting carried away by what online voting can suggest can be quite destructive to the national psyche. It is pretty certain most Filipinos still remember the big letdown last year.